Robbie Moore MP has spoken of his delight at the Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Spring Budget, which will provide tens of millions of pounds of financial support to people and businesses across Keighley and Ilkley. Prior to the Budget, Mr. Moore called on the Chancellor to support people and businesses by extending Furlough and the £20 uplift to Universal Credit for as long as restrictions remain in place, but also to provide support to help businesses re-open, and help those who have yet to receive any support, such as the newly self-employed.
The Chancellor has delivered, with the government providing positive news on all Mr. Moore asked for, and more.
The key highlights from the Budget were as follows:
- An extension of the Furlough scheme until the end of September, ensuring it continues to support employers as they begin to reopen. Two further grants will also be available to the self-employed – and the newly self-employed will also be eligible for both grants.
- A continuation of the temporary £20 per week Universal Credit uplift for a further six months. The Budget also confirms new support for providing young people with new skills: including doubling the incentive payment to SMEs to take on apprentices of any age to £3,000, and £126 million to triple the number of traineeships next year.
- New Restart Grants of up to £18,000 to help businesses as they reopen. Support for the sports, arts and culture sectors will also be increased by a further £700 million as they begin to reopen.
- Extending the business rates holiday, VAT cut and stamp duty holiday. There will also be a new mortgage guarantee scheme from April which backs 95 per cent mortgages – helping those with smaller deposits.
- Opening up the new Levelling Up Fund for its first round of bids, worth £4.8 billion across the United Kingdom.
- Launching the first ever UK Infrastructure Bank – located in Leeds – to invest in public and private projects to drive green growth and create green jobs.
- A new Help to Grow scheme to boost productivity of small businesses, to ensure they are embracing the latest technology and management training.
The government confirmed it is standing by its manifesto pledge not to increase Income Tax, National Insurance Contributions or VAT, as well as freezing alcohol duty, and fuel duty for the 11th year in a row. However to begin the work of fixing the public finances, corporation tax on large company profits will increase to 25 per cent in 2023. This will be tapered and 70 per cent of businesses will be completely unaffected.
Commenting, Robbie Moore said: “I am delighted at the Budget. I have been calling on the Government to extend the Furlough Scheme and Universal Credit uplift for as long as restrictions remain, provide more support for our local businesses, and support those who have yet to receive any support. It is brilliant news that the Chancellor has delivered on those four priorities to help people and businesses through this final stage of Covid19 restrictions.
I am also really excited to hear the Chancellor has confirmed a new £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund that will support town centre and high street regeneration, local transport projects, and cultural and heritage assets. In the first instance our district has been allocated £150,000 to work up business cases to draw down on some of this money. This Budget is about protecting many businesses, supporting many families and individuals, as well as kick starting our road to recovery beyond this pandemic, and its very welcome news."
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak MP said: “Throughout this pandemic, my top priority has been to protect jobs, businesses and livelihoods. Today’s Budget reaffirms this commitment, with £407 billion to support the British people this year and next as one of the largest, most comprehensive and sustained responses this country has ever seen.
“It is thanks to successive Conservative governments that we have been able to respond to this crisis as boldly as we have. But we need to be honest about the challenges facing our public finances, and how we will begin to fix them.
“As we look ahead, this Budget lays the foundations of our future economy – driving up productivity, creating green jobs, supporting small businesses, and levelling up across the entire United Kingdom”.
For more information on the budget, please click here.
